She's the 3rd new actor of African descent to join the cast of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – E. Roger Mitchell has been cast as troublemaker Chaff, and Meta Golding has been cast as Enobaria.

And now Maria Howell has been cast as Seeder.

Once again, thanks to the Hunger Games wiki, a brief description of Seeder:

Seeder has olive skin, straight black hair streaked with silver, and golden brown eyes. Katniss thought/commented that aside from her eyes, she looked like she came from the Seam. She appeared to be about 60 years old in Catching Fire. Katniss took to her not only because she was kind and gentle as a person, but because she ultimately reminded her of Rue. Seeder is friendly to Katniss and eats with her in lunch during training. She also seems to be confident as during her interview she very strongly stated that the Quarter Quell was wrong and President Snow could stop it if he wanted. Seeder is very motherly as well, and Katniss wanted to ally with her due to this fact.

Maria Howell's resume includes both TV and film credits, including roles in The Blind Side, Mississippi Damned and Daddy's Little Girls.

She will also be seen in NBC's upcoming new series, Revolution.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will be released on November 22, 2013 – another year+ to go.